| >Even the most successful people failed a ton before they got big success. That's just survivorship bias[1]. Yes, the big successes failed a lot. But so did the big failures. When all you see are Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc., its easy to ignore all the little companies that failed and bankrupted all who were involved. For an example of the downside, see this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOOw2yWMSfk. Can you really, honestly say that Mark Griffin hasn't ruined his life? You ask about the founders of Color. The cannot be failures. Why not? They've already succeeded at least once. The entire reason Color is as hyped as it is right now is because of its "supergroup" status. The only thing distinguishing it is the fact that it was designed and built by programmers and designers that were extremely successfull at other companies. Without that cachet, its simply just another photo-sharing app. >If you always give up right when you feel things are bleakest -> You'll never go bankrupt or to be more precise never experience total failure. >At the same time - you'll never experience the best possible success you could have. Because if everything is easy and guaranteed that probably means you never did the maximum you could and never pushed yourself. That's true. But, before you go all-in, you should ask yourself, "Can I afford this?" Yes, its easy to say yes if you're a 25 year-old with no family, no mortgage, and no debt. But, if you're a 40 year-old with obligations? Do you really want to put your dependents through the stress and hardship of a default? Before you attempt to beat the odds, make sure you can survive the odds beating you [2]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias [2] http://www.despair.com/overconfidence.html |